By ELIZABETHBENJAMIN, Capital Bureau
First published: Wednesday, September 15, 2004

The woman who routinely eviscerates America's leaders in print,
leading President Bush to nick
name her "The Cobra, " charmed a
packed-to-capacity hall Tuesday
with her self-effacing remarks and
insight on today's often bewildering political landscape.

Pulitzer Prize-winning New
York Times columnist Maureen
Dowd had the crowd of some 1,000
fans eating out of her hand the
moment she admitted, from behind a lectern that dwarfed her
petite frame, to being "frightened"
by her biweekly task of writing for
the paper's influential op-ed page.

"Usually I wait until the last
minute to start because I'm so
afraid," Dowd said. "Sometimes I
wake up in the middle of the night
and I go, 'Oh my gosh, how did this
happen? Why would anyone want
to listen to me?' "

Dowd was a late add to the New
York State Writers Institute's 2Oth
anniversary lineup of authors who
will be speaking in Albany this
year. Nevertheless, she drew a
standing-room-only crowd Tuesday at the University at Albany's
Page Hall.

Several dozen disappointed people were turned away at the door.
Dowd is promoting her new
book, "Bushworld: Enter At Your
Own Risk" (Putnam $25.95), a
collection of her columns that
blend cutting wit and pop culture
references to create an often savage
critique of the Bush administration."

On Tuesday, Dowd read one
column from her book and then
took questions from the audience
for about an hour. Her responses
were signature Dowd. She painted a
the presidential election as a test of
which candidate can appear more
macho--a contest in which Bush
seems to be trumping Democrat
John Kerry.

"The whole Republican convention was like watching 'The Magnificent Seven," she said, referring to the 1960 western. "This
whole race has been the Republicans trying to say 'You're a wimp!'
to John Kerry."

Dowd noted that during the
convention, Republicans had used
words like "weak," "waffling" and
"wavering" to describe Kerry. "It
was like a Cialis ad," she said,
referencing a drug used to treat
erectile dysfunction. Her comment sparked a wave of applause
and laughter.

Iris Berger, a Delmar resident
and enrolled Democrat, said she
had come to see Dowd specifically
to hear lines like that one.

"I find the polls at this point,
and the fact that people believe the
lies that the President and some of
the other Republicans are telling
really depressing," she said. "I
really do feel like I need some
humor at this point."